Why should You Never Trust a Photographer’s Portfolio?

If you think this is a joke or a clever headline, you are mistaken. Take 5 minutes to read this article and see if your perception of “portfolio” changes.

We are being pitched with portfolios every day. And not only when it comes to photography. Custom kitchens, home renovations, menus at restaurants, and cakes at bakeries. The list goes on and on.

What do I mean by “portfolio”? A portfolio is a selection of the best, most successful samples that a client sees when developing an opinion about business’s services and products.

Niagara Falls Winery

Let’s say, you want to replace your old deck. You’ve done your research and have selected a few companies that you will contact. The selection is usually made based on a few factors, such as style, availability, price, and, of course, portfolio. Let’s say that a decking company has been in the business for ten years, and it delivers 25+ projects every year. So, in total, we have 250 finished projects. Will you see them all on the company’s website? I doubt that. You will see 1-2 photographs from 10 to 20 projects at best! An average business showcases less than 10% of completed work.

Which ones do you think those will be? The most expensive and the most successful ones, of course. Does that mean that other projects are bad or worse? Not necessarily. But can it also mean that your project will be not as good as the ones you see on their website? Not necessarily, but possible.

You see where I’m getting?

Let’s put aside the decks and the kitchens. Let’s talk about wedding photography.

In photography, the situation is somewhat similar. I bring around 5-6 thousand photographs from every wedding. After sorting through them, we are left with 1-2 thousand photographs that are delivered to a couple. While most Toronto wedding photographers do not provide this many images, their wedding portfolio will still contain from 15 to 100 images. Best images. From different weddings.

Let’s say, we shoot 20 weddings every year. That means we deliver +/- 40 thousand (!!) images every year! Of course, you don’t want to look at 40k pictures every time you visit a wedding photographer’s website.

Good times at UofT!

But how can you tell if you will get at least one single photo similar to those you see on a photographer’s website? 40k over ten years means 400 thousand images! And the 50-100-images portfolio is selected from those 400k.

That’s why we have Full Weddings section on our website. It is for those brides who like both my approach to business and the portfolio of the best images.

You must have a chance to see a consistency of style. You have to see the consistency of quality. Amazing and genius shots that a wedding photographer will demonstrate in their portfolio might happen at your wedding, but they also might not!

Classy Auberge du Pommier wedding in North York

What you have to keep your eye on is not that one image that might become an addition to your photographer’s portfolio. You have to be concerned about the ones that you will share with your friends and family, the ones that will be on your walls and in your wedding album.

You can check out our Real Weddings page right now to see what I mean.

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day!

Arthur ;)

P.S. Call me at 647-627-9990 or use the contact form to ask any question. Thanks!